St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-03
PULPIT THEMES.
Popular Sermons Preached on Dismal
Sunday Morning.
SAMPLE CHURCH ELoQUENCE
A Trio Of Discourses from as Many
Prominent Minneapolis
Ministers.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
The Commandment Above all 9th
erS-Christianit q Finality. E

Rev. w. j. Lhaman at the church Of
Christ preached from the text: .sAnd
this is his commandment, that we should
believe on the name of his Son, Jesus
Christ, and love one another as he gave
us commandment" First John, iii, %,
Christianity is finality. Why should
it not have one great sweeping COM
mand, that is also final? Christ is SUI
preme on earth. Should heaven not
send forth supreme word respecting
us and him? Jesus arose from the
grave clothed with all authority in
heaven and on earth. Highest allegiance
cannot fall short of his LordShip. Ulti
mate commands, while they respect us
as their object. Christ's claim to the
allegiance of men is built upon his SON.
ship toward GOD, and his LOrdShip over
earth. This latter is built upon the
atonement wrought in his death, and
the victory wrought in his resurrection.
These are facts, rOck-like and eternal,
that the world must yet face as NAH
fully as ever it has faced the question
of bread and butter. All the
rivers seek the sea; all the planets
hold by the law of gravitation; even
laws have their law; everywhere cen,
ter is sought from which all related
things radiate and to which they return.
1t is so in religion. All that is good in
the mythology of Zoroaster, the human
ity of Buddha, the precepts of Con-
fuciuS, the analectS of MenciuS, and the
laws of Moses is included in this one
command to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The highest law includes all
others, just as a supreme motive in the
man overrules all others. Forward ac-
ton is the best safeguard against back
ward going, and the positive in life pre-
cludes the negative. If my whole being
is bent Christward | do not need Moses
to tell me not to steal, or lie, or swear,
or covet; nor Buddha to teach me phil
anthropy; nor Mahomet to tell me that
God is one and besides Him is no other;
nor state law to make me fair citizen;
nor public opinion to keep me decent.
The life of the real Christian flows as
naturally Godward as the waters of the
river oceanward. Who would think of
legislating to the river, saying: ''Thou
shall not turn back to seek thy
source among the hillside springs nor
lakes, nor shall thou climb the
precipice on thy right, nor wander up
the mountains at thy left. So when we
believe what is here commanded, we
are made naturally thereby to wander
from holiness onward to holiness" Leg
islations, and creed formations, and
dOgmaS, and doctrinS, and even theOlo-
gieS are futile things at which the free
soul comes at last to laugh outright.
Beliefs here called command. The
laws of our being, however, are not
ignored. God does not give command
unless there is the possibility of Obedi-
ence and disobedience. We cannot be-
lieve without sufficient testimony, but
so imperiOus and stubborn is the will
that we may reject what passes far be-
yond testimony and becomes demonstra-
ton. l know there are those who
laugh at the idea of commanding a man
to believe, thinking that belief depends
wholly upon testimony. That is con-
cluSiOn from very narrow inductions.
The fact is there is no part of man more
capriciOus than his faith, and one has
but to look about him to see that hum
dredS of men disbelieve in spite of tes-
timOny, while other hundreds believe
all sorts OF stuff in utter lack of teSti-
mOny.
So of all our actions. Motive is much,
but will is more; motive is only cup
bearer to the king of action, which is
the will. The will never abdicates his
throne within the real man. If motive
were supreme there would be no sense
in command. God speaks to the man
who is manly. and whose will is in its
Ortal place, on the throne within him,
when he commands saying, ''Believe in
the name of my Son Jesus Christi 1
say that is JehOvah'S word to manly
men, to men and women as they are at
their best outside of Christ: to men and
women in whom reason is keen to in
vestigate, and the Judgment able to
decide, and the willstrong to execute
1,nfl I, ocf Of -
faith, or the blowing of field.
With this study or text seems to me
to develop into an awful significance.
1t is the command of the Supreme
Being; of the great and only God, the
Jehovah of the Jews, and the Father of
the Christians; of Him to whose love or
authority or both all men must at last
bow the knee whether willingly or UNI
willingly; it is my creators command
that l believe in the Son whom he puts
side by side with himself in eternal and
absolute supremacy over human destiny.
Since the resurrection of Christ that is
the command over all others, to diSObey
which is rebellion against high heaven,
and treason against our nObleSt self
hood. We peep and mutter about our
little laws of state, and think it helm
GUS crime to swear, or steal, or break
such day in this country. or get
drunk, or rebel, we think such things
for, while we tread the blood of Jesus
under cur feet. defantly face the fact
of his resurrection and consequent lord
ship, and while like lords Of the pit we
stalk all our lives through Gods world
in persistent neglect of. or defiance. to
this his last and greatest law, viz: that
we shall believe his son. o men why
do you not obey the highest law first,
and then let all your life flow naturally
from that highest obedience into the
many channels of it's activity that you
find here on earth, let it flow naturally
thus, and in purity and gladness, know
ing that you cannot go wrong, having
such source and going i'll such di-
rection. Believe Christ and love one
another-that is all we have to do in
this world; in SOlOmOn'S phrase, sit is
the conclusion of the whole matter"
God tells us to believe; Christ tells us
to love. Love and believe, and so shall
you live.
Longfellow says of love, SIT is the
root of creation" And of faith, sit is
the sun of life" Therefore he SAYS:
'sLove and believe; for works will follow
spontaneous,
Even as the day does the sun. The right
from the goods an offspring, -
Love inIa bodily shape; and Christian works
are no more than ''iii =
Animate love and faith, as flowers are the
animate spring tide So
DEATH OF JESUS. ~
Not an Innocent Sacrifice to an